1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mesh network, and more particularly, to a method of providing a very high throughput (VHT) wireless local area network (LAN) technology.
2. Related Art
An IEEE 802.11s based mesh network supports direct communication of a plurality of wireless devices having a relay function not via an access point (AP). In view of a function, a distribution system (DS) of an AP may be replaced by an interoperable wireless link or a multi-hop path among a plurality of APs. According to the mesh network, since a peer-to-peer wireless link in which one wireless device interacts with one or more adjacent wireless devices and/or APs may be configured, flexible wireless connection may be performed.
In the mesh network, one wireless device may be connected to a plurality of other wireless devices to have a plurality of communication paths. The communication paths among the wireless devices are referred to as wireless mesh links, mesh peer links, or peer links. The wireless devices are referred to as mesh points (MP), however, are not limited to the MPs. Among the MPs, MPs that perform the function of the AP as well as the above-described relay function are referred to as mesh access points (MAP).
The mesh network has advantages of flexibility in establishing the network, reliability by a detour route, and reduction in power consumption in accordance with reduction in a communication distance. Specifically, a flexible network may be established among the MPs even in a place where a communication network using the mesh network does not exist. In the mesh network, the plurality of MPs are connected to each other so that a plurality of detour routes may be secured. Therefore, although one MP is out of order, data may be transmitted through other paths. In addition, in the mesh network, although the communication coverage of one MP is not large, since communication may be performed via an adjacent MP, remote communication may be performed with low power.
An IEEE 802.11n wireless LAN technology is supported in the IEEE 802.11s based mesh network. The IEEE 802.11n as a standard technology relatively recently established in order to overcome limitations on communication speed that is the weak point of a wireless LAN is designed to increase the speed and reliability of a network and to extend the operation coverage of a wireless network. Specifically, the IEEE 802.11n is based on a multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) technology in which a plurality of antennas are adopted to a transmitter and/or a receiver in order to support high throughput (HT) having data throughput of maximum 600 Mbps, to minimize a transmission error, and to optimize a data rate.
As supply of the wireless LAN is activated and various applications use the wireless LAN, recently, a new wireless LAN technology of supporting higher throughput than data processing speed supported by the IEEE 802.11n is required. As a succeeding technology of the IEEE 802.11n, an IEEE 802.11ac VHT wireless LAN technology of supporting VHT is newly suggested. The VHT wireless LAN supports data processing speed of no less than 1 Gbps in an MAC service access point (SAP). The name of the VHT wireless LAN is arbitrary. In order to provide data throughput of no less than 1 Gbps, a reliability test for a VHT wireless LAN system in which 4×4 MIMO and 80 MHz channel bandwidth are used is being performed.
Therefore, a method of supporting the VHT wireless LAN technology in the IEEE 802.11s based mesh network is required.